Buchanan County vs Washington County

A side-by-side comparison of Buchanan County and Washington County: population, income, housing, and more.

Buchanan County and Washington County are counties in Iowa. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Washington County has the higher population (22,539 vs 20,645 in Buchanan County). Buchanan County has the higher median household income ($78,430 vs $71,339 in Washington County). Washington County has the higher median home value ($199,600 vs $171,400 in Buchanan County).

Population, income & housing

	Buchanan County	Washington County
Population	20,645	22,539
Median age	39.9 yrs	40.3 yrs
Median household income	$78,430	$71,339
Median home value	$171,400	$199,600
Median gross rent	$802	$862
Housing units	8,946	9,638
Homeownership rate	81.1%	72.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.3%	24.9%
Unemployment rate	2.7%	2.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Buchanan County	Washington County
Population	21,118 → 20,645 (-2.2%)	22,100 → 22,539 (+2.0%)
Median household income	$64,837 → $78,430 (+21.0%)	$62,556 → $71,339 (+14.0%)
Median home value	$142,500 → $171,400 (+20.3%)	$151,600 → $199,600 (+31.7%)
Median gross rent	$678 → $802 (+18.3%)	$754 → $862 (+14.3%)

Buchanan County

Population

21,11820,645

Median household income

$64,837$78,430

Median home value

$142,500$171,400

Median gross rent

$678$802

Washington County

Population

22,10022,539

Median household income

$62,556$71,339

Median home value

$151,600$199,600

Median gross rent

$754$862

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Buchanan County	Washington County
Under 5	6.6%	6.3%
5 to 17	19.1%	18.3%
18 to 24	7.1%	7.5%
25 to 34	10.9%	11.1%
35 to 44	12.6%	12.5%
45 to 54	11.5%	11.2%
55 to 64	13.9%	13.3%
65 to 74	10.9%	11.0%
75 and over	7.4%	8.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Buchanan County	Washington County
White (non-Hispanic)	95.2%	89.2%
Black or African American	0.7%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.2%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	1.8%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	1.8%	7.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Buchanan County	Washington County
No high school diploma	5.4%	6.8%
High school graduate	36.1%	35.8%
Some college or associate's	36.2%	32.5%
Bachelor's degree	15.9%	16.5%
Graduate or professional degree	6.4%	8.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Buchanan County	Washington County
Drove alone	78.2%	77.8%
Carpooled	8.9%	9.1%
Public transit	0.3%	1.0%
Walked	3.1%	2.5%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.9%	8.5%
Other means	0.3%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Buchanan County	Washington County
1-unit, detached	81.8%	79.0%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	3.4%
2 to 4 units	7.3%	7.9%
5 to 19 units	2.1%	4.9%
20 or more units	1.6%	1.3%
Mobile home & other	5.5%	3.5%

Poverty & households

	Buchanan County	Washington County
Poverty rate	7.0%	8.5%
Average household size	2.51	2.45
Mean commute (minutes)	23	24
Median year structure built	1971	1962